5 CHATTER
Paeans of praise, groans of despair from readers.
7 COMMENTARY
The state of the world according to the editor.
8 JERKING OFF
Porn stars do "it" for you!
10 SNOW BLOW PART II
To cool your fevered crotch!
15 ANDREW Michael
Dark, hung and handsome!
20 COACH
Lockerroom encounters of the best kind!
28 FIRST TIME
Diving in head first!
35 NEIL THOMAS
Super-hung and hard!
42 DARREN POWERS
Blond, smooth and ready!
47 SCOTT RYAN
He wants to save you!
77 BEAU EDWARDS
Our coverboy offers it up!
52 MALEBOX
Ad from readers who want to meat you!
83 PERFORMANCE
The curtain goes up when star and director get down!
90 VIDEOBOX
The Rites of Spring from Vivid Man.
EDITORIAL NOTE
It's funny how things change, sometimes so gradually that you're barely aware
it's taking place. Then one day it hits you. This isn't the way things used to
be!
I had one of those realizations the other day after spending a weekend with a
friend from out of town, doing something I haven't done in a few years. Cruising.
Let me clarify that. My friend was cruising, I was just acting as guide about
West Hollywood, indulging in one of my favorite activities, observing.
It isn't that I have anything against cruising. It's a time-honored gay pastime;
for some a way of life. And it was a way of life for me at one point in my life,
I'll have to admit. But a few years back, probably influenced to a degree by health
concerns, but mostly because I was more interested in a long-term relationship
than a lifetime of one-night stands, I stopped cruising and set a new course in
my life. I decided it was time to settle down. And I did. For two years with one
man, a year with another, three years and counting with a third.
I didn't turn into a hermit. I still go out to bars to have fun from time to time.
I just don't go out looking for sex. At first, that drastic change in my lifestyle
was novel and even a little mind-boggling. Old habits are not always easy to break.
But I was involved and happy with my involvement, even if it did eventually turn
out to be a series of involvements. After all, serial monogamy is another time-honored
tradition in our society.
So for the past few years, when I do go out it is with friends just wanting to
have a good time. I've found it rather liberating in a way. You don't have to
pretend to be paying attention to your friends while really ignoring them and
instead, searching the room for a face, a body, a spark of mutual recognition
and attraction.
Instead, you have the opportunity to spend real quality time with your friends.
I've found that this aspect alone has enabled me to deepen my friendships, because
I've learned more about them, have a greater understanding of what makes them
tick. This isn't a one-way street either. The understanding and respect is mutual.
So it was a bit of a culture shock when my friend arrived from a part of the country
where there has apparently been little change in the way gay men go about finding
partners. This guy was paying
his first visit to "Hollywood" and he was hot to trot, to explore and
to wallow in the sexual excesses he was certain were lying in wait for him.
I don't mean to imply that if you look long enough and hard enough, you won't
find people who share my friend's outlook and behavior patterns. There is a sleaze
factor in our community that won't be denied or die out. And, yes, there are still
bars, dark, dingy and smelly (usually with fake leather drapes in the doorway),
which cater to that outdated mindset.
But as my friend found out, after frustrating forays into the more popular bars
in town where socializing is the main attraction, meeting and getting to know
people is more important than a quick, anonymous fuck and where safe sex is the
watchword, his vision of what Hollywood has to offer was seriously skewed.
Guys to die for still pack the bars nightly; the atmosphere in many bars is still
highly charged with sexual innuendo and opportunity; but the change in attitude
is profound. Gay men are no longer willing to slip into the men's room for a blow
job or some handy bushes for a jean's around the ankles screw.
When a pickup is contemplated, frank and open discussion about both partner's
health is normal; ground rules and limits are set beforehand about what kind of
sex acts will be allowed. Usually, it is after all that has been settled before
two men will even leave the bar.
This was, of course, a very disconcerting fact of gay life for my friend to comprehend
and digest. Watching him experience this attitude was, for me, both amusing, satisfying
and eye-opening. I'd been out of the cycle during the time these changes took
place. While I was aware of them peripherally, I hadn't realized how pervasive
and all-encompassing this change of attitude was. It gives me hope for the future.
And now you can, very safely, enjoy another hot issue of STARS!
